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2 more big record distribs sadly go tits up
 

offline diamondtron on 2008-12-04 08:02 [#02256880]
Points: 1138 Status: Lurker



http://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=9972

It's been a bad week for distributors, with news that both
Neuton and Pinnacle are to fold...



 

offline Brisk from selling smack at the orphanage on 2008-12-04 08:40 [#02256882]
Points: 4667 Status: Lurker



It's a sad state of affairs isn't it? I'm kinda torn on the
issue, because I know a lot of those labels are really gonna
suffer as a result of this, with loss of money and probably
records too. On the other hand, I think this might just be
the wakeup call a lot of labels need to just get rid of
distributors for physical records entirely, as the model
clearly isn't working anymore.

I love vinyl and I even quite like CDs for albums, but the
death knell rang for these formats ages ago and I really
don't think it will be long before they're made completely
redundant. Vinyl has died before and always had a place with
the niche/enthusiast market, but the cost of materials in
pressing records and the fact distributors and record stores
are dropping faster than wasps in winter mean that
eventually, it's just going to be too expensive to make and
ultimately sell vinyl records. Didn't Independent go under
last year too? Call me a pessimist, but I reckon the whole
music market will be 99.9% digital within 5 years at the
latest. Single sales are already something like 80% digital
I think and i'm sure it won't be much longer before albums
join that statistic too.

My main problem is fuckers like Apple who seem to have the
whole digital market place sewn up. They make the most
popular device for listening to music in the world and also
totally dominate the marketplace to feed the damn thing. I'm
sure people like the convenience of integration, but it's
still a real shame to see a once open model which encouraged
lots of distributors and labels to work together, to be
replaced by a souless entity like itunes. Maybe i'm just
bitter, I dunno. I do know i'll always support the good,
independent stores that don't want to fuck me in the ass
with DRM or make me install bloaty, crappy software before I
can even download anything.

Still, I do think digital downloads are the way and the
light and i've listened to music primarily on my computer
for years now. In the end, it's the music which matters,
regardless o


 

offline Brisk from selling smack at the orphanage on 2008-12-04 08:41 [#02256883]
Points: 4667 Status: Lurker



..regardless of the format it's on.

God damn, I broke the character limit. I talk too much.


 

offline Barcode from United Kingdom on 2008-12-04 08:56 [#02256884]
Points: 1767 Status: Lurker



I prefer to have a hard copy of my favourite albums, and the
majority of people I know feel the same. Whether the youth
market feel the same is another thing, I don't think they
care so much about music or the quality of it. They can live
without CDs, but if their hard drive went down and they lost
200 mp3s I doubt they'd give a shit either.

CDs will stick around just like vinyl has, there will always
be market for over 30s who perfer a mix of physical and
digital.

Most labels have coped, adapted and survived. It's The ones
that don't adapt that go under - distrubutor's have little
way of adapting as they cannot distribute digital. It's
taken while for them to fold as they service so many labels
simultaneously, but I guess not enough.


 

offline glasse from Harrisburg (United States) on 2008-12-04 09:30 [#02256886]
Points: 4211 Status: Regular | Show recordbag



it is too bad that distributors are going out of business,
and people are losing those jobs. however i think the
transition is ultimately positive. less cost, less
overhead, less middlemen. environmentally better because
less resources are used. easier for smaller labels and
independent artists to reach a wider audience.

i do like album artwork, nice packaging and all that, tho.
it would be nice to see more multimedia content kind of
replace that, maybe. also, it will be better when flac can
become more of a standard, but i think storage space costs
need to come down even more, internet connection speeds need
to increase, and the format has to become more widely known
and compatible before that happens. i, unfortunately, do
not yet have the space or the time to have everything in
flac, no matter if it does sound better.


 

offline diamondtron on 2008-12-04 09:47 [#02256887]
Points: 1138 Status: Lurker



free digital music is great
downloading someone's life's work & findings in one file in
a few hours for free
but great dance music not making it to superior audio and
fun vinyl is a crying shame
artists having no kind of investment or belief or support
from labels is a shame
but there will still be diamonds, just a LOT more rubbish in
between, a LOT, the myspace music toilet is just the tip of
the iceberg



 

offline Barcode from United Kingdom on 2008-12-04 10:37 [#02256894]
Points: 1767 Status: Lurker



The labels took advantage for too long, now if they want to
make as much money as they did before they will have to
deliver value for money like never before. Something more
than a paper slip in a jewel case for £15.99.

They should sell CDs in box sets with fold-out posters,
badges, or tour discount vouchers. Something imaginative to
lure people into buying CDs either instead of, or alongside
digital.

Sure, their costs will rise, but they can still make a
decent wedge out of it. Look at the beautiful packaging some
of the tiny labels put out, it puts the big ones to shame.


 

offline ecnadniarb on 2008-12-04 17:55 [#02256976]
Points: 24805 Status: Lurker | Followup to diamondtron: #02256887 | Show recordbag



If you are who I think you are then if I could get hold of
your early stuff on vinyl I would...I won't pay ebay prices
though.


 

offline diamondtron on 2008-12-05 02:06 [#02257084]
Points: 1138 Status: Lurker



fancy packaging with loads of extra merch is nice but most
people don't want all that, they are mainly interested in
the music which they can get for free.


 

offline Taxidermist from Black Grass on 2008-12-05 03:42 [#02257106]
Points: 9958 Status: Lurker



I can't stand the idea of paying for something that I am
going to store away in a box.


 

offline Brisk from selling smack at the orphanage on 2008-12-05 06:57 [#02257151]
Points: 4667 Status: Lurker



I still think the best option is to press a limited vinyl
run and then just sell the rest as digital downloads
(flac!)

This way, people still get the option of a physical format
and something nice to keep and everyone else who doesn't
want to pay for the luxury of nice packaging/vinyl get to
listen to the music without stealing it (or from a crappy
vinyl rip)

I think more incentives need giving, such as exclusive/bonus
tracks for vinyl (but NOT the other way around). Maybe even
give the digital versions away for free if you buy the vinyl
version at the same time...

Right now, I think most peoples complaints about records are
they are too expensive and they're being made increasingly
redundant in clubs. The complaint about digital downloads is
you don't feel like you get much for your money. Combine the
two together for a fixed price and voila, people will start
taking interest in physical records again.


 

offline cuntychuck from Copenhagen (Denmark) on 2008-12-05 07:04 [#02257153]
Points: 8603 Status: Lurker



you said everything i wanted to say about this subject
brisk.


 


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